There are few industries evolving as fast as crypto, or technologies with as much potential as blockchain. But while we’ve gotten excited about peer-to-peer payments and the instant transfer of value, we’re still adding layers of centralization. Satoshi’s vision was to sidestep the middleman–the authority approving the transaction and taking their fee.
So while we’ve been buying and selling unregulated crypto online and feeling all Libertarian about it, we’ve still been hit by commission fees and putting money into other people’s pockets (Brian Armstrong ring any bells?).
Digitex Futures Founder & CEO Adam Todd believes there’s another way. And he’s working around the clock to bring commission-free trading to the crypto world. As a serial entrepreneur, world traveler, and experienced pit trader (which he describes as “exhilarating”), he blends a passion for trading and a lust for life in general.
Source:Digitex
So how do you build a disruptive commission-free exchange when the technology is so new and your idea is little more than a sketch on paper? Let’s see what he has to say.
You Have to Go All In
90 percent of all startups fail within the first three years. And when it comes to blockchain, we’ve already seen half of all ICO contenders from 2017 fall flat on their faces. Of course, not all their reasons for going under are the same, but the basic point here is–go big or go home.
When it comes to launching a bleeding-edge, category-breaking company using exploratory technology in an uncertain regulatory landscape, you have to go all in. It helps to have money, of course. But as so many of the successful crowdfunding projects have proven, money isn’t the only factor–in fact, it may even be the least important.
If you don’t have a passion for what you do, or belief that you can overcome the problems that come your way, you won’t realize your vision. If you flinch each time the Bitcoin price takes a dive, the SEC or EU come out with a new set of statements, or every time your idea gets a bashing from critics, it will be impossible to stay the distance.
When Todd was being “hammered by trading commissions” back in the outcry pits, turning profitable days into losses, commission-free trading seemed like a distant dream. But as he discovered Bitcoin in 2013 (what he calls “the missing piece of the internet”) and then Ethereum, smart contracts, and ERC-20 tokens, he knew he’d found the vehicle to make things happen.
He put together a team of the highest quality talent, set about learning everything he could about blockchain online, and raised $5 million in the Digitex ICO in just 17 minutes!
Source:Digitex
Understand the Problem You’re Solving
With more than 1,700 cryptocurrencies currently registered on Coinmarketcap, there’s no shortage of cryptocurrency exchanges to buy and sell them all. We already know that not all exchanges offer the same features or stock the same coins. But there are certainly more than enough operating within the same competitive space. Launching just another cryptocurrency exchange wasn’t going to break the mold.
Todd understood that he had to do it better. Having spent so many years speculating on market prices and latterly in cryptocurrency, the same pain point raised its head over and over. Commission fees taking hefty chunks of profit from traders making multiple round turns made it almost impossible to make gains. Especially in a bear market.
High frequency, low volume trading, and futures trading are essential when the market is down–and a commission-free exchange is a dream come true for traders that will allow them to make a viable living at last.
Todd had his USP clear from the start. The technology at his fingertips to put it together and the validation of his theory realized from the overwhelming ICO demand.
Your blockchain company may not be a commission-free trading platform (hopefully it isn’t!) but whatever you decide to build, make sure you know that you’re solving a real problem, not just jumping on the blockchain bandwagon.
Never Give Up
Almost equally as important as bucketloads of passion for what you do is a “dogged determination to make it work no matter what.” Bitcoin, blockchain, ICOs… all these terms are entering the wider vocabulary. Yet, speak to almost anyone last year about building a blockchain company and they would have thought you were crazy.
Of course, you can’t form a team and create a company purely out of love. You need to pay salaries, infrastructure, taxes, licenses, and the like. But all that will come if you have persistence and never give up on your idea.
Being a successful entrepreneur often requires you to see what others don’t. To be able to look into the future and solve a problem people don’t even know they have (just look at Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg).
There are times when you’ll doubt yourself, but you have to carry on anyway and believe in yourself. Everything that Todd learned about blockchain and cryptocurrency was self-taught through the internet.
So, don’t let lack of knowledge stop you from working on your idea. “Do it now,” Todd advises, “the sooner you get involved the better.”
Be Ready to Adapt to the Markets
All companies need to be agile in today’s fast-paced world. Incumbent banks and FSIs, and businesses from different industries had better disrupt themselves or be disrupted. And centralized exchanges should look out as well, because, even if you’re building a blockchain company and on the leading edge of innovation, you must never rest on your laurels.
Regulation is constantly changing. Cyber Criminals are continually more innovative. Competition is fierce. Interoperability between blockchains will soon be seamless. Crypto will surely turn mainstream. Whatever it is you want to bring to the blockchain table, make sure you’re agile enough and ready to adapt to market changes.
Last year’s conversation at the dinner table was about Bitcoin. That’s already changed. And the thousands of cryptocurrencies and blockchain companies with cool ideas are proof enough of this.
Wrapping It Up
We’re living in exciting times. With the launch of the Digitex Futures commission-free exchange in Q4 this year, it will be interesting to see how many traders continue to give up a slice of their profits when they can get the full value of their trade. If you would like to get early access, please sign-up on the waitlist to be one of the first to start trading futures without any fees for commissions, withdrawals or deposits.
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